Wholesome Food: Building a Healthier RGV
Story by Nina Alegre
Edited by Abigail Vela
A Brownsville Wellness Coalition program is helping people achieve their goals by teaching them how to cook better meals for themselves and their families. The Happy Kitchen/La Cocina Alegre is a six-week bilingual nutrition program taught in English or Spanish in Hidalgo and Cameron County, covering 12 cities. The program aims to serve communities with the knowledge and skills needed to make fresh, healthy eating more accessible and fosters long-term health and wellness.
Jessica Molina (she/her), the Cooking and Nutrition Program Manager for the Brownsville Wellness Coalition, has been managing The Happy Kitchen/La Cocina Alegre for 11 years. In this article, Molina discusses how the program benefits the lives of residents of the Rio Grande Valley and how no one should ever be afraid to make a change in their lives!
Making Healthier Lifestyle Choices
In the past, Trucha has written about the importance of making healthier lifestyle choices with the foods we consume. We have highlighted organizations such as non-profits and farms helping create a healthier, more sustainable RGV.
We recognize that it’s not always easy to get healthy food since most of the Valley is considered a food desert. However, there are programs available for those who need help finding ways to obtain locally grown fruits and vegetables, learn how to grow your own or cook them!
For example, The Happy Kitchen/La Cocina Alegre not only helps your nutrition and health for six weeks, but they also provide recipes and give you groceries to take home so that you can cook these delicious foods for yourself or your family!
So, the next time you think the RGV does not care about you and your health, think again because people like Jessica Molina and the team surrounding The Happy Kitchen/La Cocina Alegre are here to support you!
Happy Food, Happy Plate!
Molina talked about how being part of the program has helped her, “I feel like it’s taught me about meaningful connections outside of your immediate family. When we teach in class, we take into account how much they’re sharing with us of their lives. They’re dedicating an hour and a half for six consecutive weeks, the same time, [the] same day of the week at the same location. This is a chunk out of their lives. […] That’s extremely meaningful.”
What Molina loves most about cooking and teaching others is seeing “the instant mind-shift when they learn about nutritional labels and The Happy Plates.” Molina shared, “The Happy Plate is part of [the program], and what it is, it divides portion control. I don’t like to use the word portion control, but the outlook of how to eat certain carbohydrates or fats when it comes to protein eating.”
Molina continued by talking about how The Happy Plate helps her classes. She said, “Our eyes will eat before our mouth, so if our plate looks happy, we’re going to want to eat it. […] If it doesn’t look appealing, you’re not going to eat it in general. So, add some vegetables, some fruit, add some whole grains, add some protein, add some herbs on there.”
Most of the time, the myth that eating healthy does not taste good can affect others, as well as how they would have to stop eating certain foods that are traditional to Mexican culture. Molina shared her thoughts on that, “People think, ‘Oh, you eat healthy? You can’t eat Mexican food.’ ‘Oh, you eat healthy? You can’t eat tamales.’ […] We honor that. You can make tamales with olive oil, you can eat your enchiladas, and don’t fry the corn tortilla. You know what I mean? Still honoring our cultural traditions.”
Many people in the RGV suffer from nutrition problems, and Molina suggests that education is the best way to fight it. Molina said, “The lack of knowledge that some people have with what they’ve been diagnosed with hinders their progress [and] accessibility; having either family accessible to help them if they don’t understand or [if] they can’t get to their glucose monitors. And having food accessibility. We live in a desert area where food isn’t readily available all the time, especially fresh food.”
Make A Difference In Your Life
If you want to join The Happy Kitchen/La Cocina Alegre in eating healthier and making better choices, classes for the program will start again in 2025 in January. Classes are set to run from January 22 to September 18, so if you are interested in joining, we recommend keeping in touch with the Brownsville Wellness Coalition!
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